Update postgres docs (#9989)

changelog.d/9988.doc

@@ -1 +1 @@
-Fix outdated minimum PostgreSQL version in postgres.md.
+Updates to the PostgreSQL documentation (`postgres.md`).

changelog.d/9989.doc

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Updates to the PostgreSQL documentation (`postgres.md`).

docs/postgres.md

@@ -33,28 +33,15 @@ Assuming your PostgreSQL database user is called `postgres`, first authenticate
     # Or, if your system uses sudo to get administrative rights
     sudo -u postgres bash
 
-Then, create a user ``synapse_user`` with:
+Then, create a postgres user and a database with:
 
+    # this will prompt for a password for the new user
     createuser --pwprompt synapse_user
 
-Before you can authenticate with the `synapse_user`, you must create a
+    createdb --encoding=UTF8 --locale=C --template=template0 --owner=synapse_user synapse
-database that it can access. To create a database, first connect to the
-database with your database user:
 
-    su - postgres # Or: sudo -u postgres bash
+The above will create a user called `synapse_user`, and a database called
-    psql
+`synapse`.
-
-and then run:
-
-    CREATE DATABASE synapse
-     ENCODING 'UTF8'
-     LC_COLLATE='C'
-     LC_CTYPE='C'
-     template=template0
-     OWNER synapse_user;
-
-This would create an appropriate database named `synapse` owned by the
-`synapse_user` user (which must already have been created as above).
 
 Note that the PostgreSQL database *must* have the correct encoding set
 (as shown above), otherwise it will not be able to store UTF8 strings.
@@ -63,79 +50,6 @@ You may need to enable password authentication so `synapse_user` can
 connect to the database. See
 <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-pg-hba-conf.html>.
 
-If you get an error along the lines of `FATAL:  Ident authentication failed for
-user "synapse_user"`, you may need to use an authentication method other than
-`ident`:
-
-* If the `synapse_user` user has a password, add the password to the `database:`
-  section of `homeserver.yaml`. Then add the following to `pg_hba.conf`:
-
-  ```
-  host    synapse     synapse_user    ::1/128     md5  # or `scram-sha-256` instead of `md5` if you use that
-  ```
-
-* If the `synapse_user` user does not have a password, then a password doesn't
-  have to be added to `homeserver.yaml`. But the following does need to be added
-  to `pg_hba.conf`:
-
-  ```
-  host    synapse     synapse_user    ::1/128     trust
-  ```
-
-Note that line order matters in `pg_hba.conf`, so make sure that if you do add a
-new line, it is inserted before:
-
-```
-host    all         all             ::1/128     ident
-```
-
-### Fixing incorrect `COLLATE` or `CTYPE`
-
-Synapse will refuse to set up a new database if it has the wrong values of
-`COLLATE` and `CTYPE` set, and will log warnings on existing databases. Using
-different locales can cause issues if the locale library is updated from
-underneath the database, or if a different version of the locale is used on any
-replicas.
-
-The safest way to fix the issue is to take a dump and recreate the database with
-the correct `COLLATE` and `CTYPE` parameters (as shown above). It is also possible to change the
-parameters on a live database and run a `REINDEX` on the entire database,
-however extreme care must be taken to avoid database corruption.
-
-Note that the above may fail with an error about duplicate rows if corruption
-has already occurred, and such duplicate rows will need to be manually removed.
-
-
-## Fixing inconsistent sequences error
-
-Synapse uses Postgres sequences to generate IDs for various tables. A sequence
-and associated table can get out of sync if, for example, Synapse has been
-downgraded and then upgraded again.
-
-To fix the issue shut down Synapse (including any and all workers) and run the
-SQL command included in the error message. Once done Synapse should start
-successfully.
-
-
-## Tuning Postgres
-
-The default settings should be fine for most deployments. For larger
-scale deployments tuning some of the settings is recommended, details of
-which can be found at
-<https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Tuning_Your_PostgreSQL_Server>.
-
-In particular, we've found tuning the following values helpful for
-performance:
-
--   `shared_buffers`
--   `effective_cache_size`
--   `work_mem`
--   `maintenance_work_mem`
--   `autovacuum_work_mem`
-
-Note that the appropriate values for those fields depend on the amount
-of free memory the database host has available.
-
 ## Synapse config
 
 When you are ready to start using PostgreSQL, edit the `database`
@@ -165,18 +79,42 @@ may block for an extended period while it waits for a response from the
 database server. Example values might be:
 
 ```yaml
-# seconds of inactivity after which TCP should send a keepalive message to the server
+database:
-keepalives_idle: 10
+  args:
+    # ... as above
 
-# the number of seconds after which a TCP keepalive message that is not
+    # seconds of inactivity after which TCP should send a keepalive message to the server
-# acknowledged by the server should be retransmitted
+    keepalives_idle: 10
-keepalives_interval: 10
 
-# the number of TCP keepalives that can be lost before the client's connection
+    # the number of seconds after which a TCP keepalive message that is not
-# to the server is considered dead
+    # acknowledged by the server should be retransmitted
-keepalives_count: 3
+    keepalives_interval: 10
+
+    # the number of TCP keepalives that can be lost before the client's connection
+    # to the server is considered dead
+    keepalives_count: 3
 ```
 
+## Tuning Postgres
+
+The default settings should be fine for most deployments. For larger
+scale deployments tuning some of the settings is recommended, details of
+which can be found at
+<https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Tuning_Your_PostgreSQL_Server>.
+
+In particular, we've found tuning the following values helpful for
+performance:
+
+-   `shared_buffers`
+-   `effective_cache_size`
+-   `work_mem`
+-   `maintenance_work_mem`
+-   `autovacuum_work_mem`
+
+Note that the appropriate values for those fields depend on the amount
+of free memory the database host has available.
+
+
 ## Porting from SQLite
 
 ### Overview
@@ -185,9 +123,8 @@ The script `synapse_port_db` allows porting an existing synapse server
 backed by SQLite to using PostgreSQL. This is done in as a two phase
 process:
 
-1.  Copy the existing SQLite database to a separate location (while the
+1.  Copy the existing SQLite database to a separate location and run
-    server is down) and running the port script against that offline
+    the port script against that offline database.
-    database.
 2.  Shut down the server. Rerun the port script to port any data that
     has come in since taking the first snapshot. Restart server against
     the PostgreSQL database.
@@ -245,3 +182,60 @@ PostgreSQL database configuration file `homeserver-postgres.yaml`:
     ./synctl start
 
 Synapse should now be running against PostgreSQL.
+
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### Alternative auth methods
+
+If you get an error along the lines of `FATAL:  Ident authentication failed for
+user "synapse_user"`, you may need to use an authentication method other than
+`ident`:
+
+* If the `synapse_user` user has a password, add the password to the `database:`
+  section of `homeserver.yaml`. Then add the following to `pg_hba.conf`:
+
+  ```
+  host    synapse     synapse_user    ::1/128     md5  # or `scram-sha-256` instead of `md5` if you use that
+  ```
+
+* If the `synapse_user` user does not have a password, then a password doesn't
+  have to be added to `homeserver.yaml`. But the following does need to be added
+  to `pg_hba.conf`:
+
+  ```
+  host    synapse     synapse_user    ::1/128     trust
+  ```
+
+Note that line order matters in `pg_hba.conf`, so make sure that if you do add a
+new line, it is inserted before:
+
+```
+host    all         all             ::1/128     ident
+```
+
+### Fixing incorrect `COLLATE` or `CTYPE`
+
+Synapse will refuse to set up a new database if it has the wrong values of
+`COLLATE` and `CTYPE` set, and will log warnings on existing databases. Using
+different locales can cause issues if the locale library is updated from
+underneath the database, or if a different version of the locale is used on any
+replicas.
+
+The safest way to fix the issue is to dump the database and recreate it with
+the correct locale parameter (as shown above). It is also possible to change the
+parameters on a live database and run a `REINDEX` on the entire database,
+however extreme care must be taken to avoid database corruption.
+
+Note that the above may fail with an error about duplicate rows if corruption
+has already occurred, and such duplicate rows will need to be manually removed.
+
+### Fixing inconsistent sequences error
+
+Synapse uses Postgres sequences to generate IDs for various tables. A sequence
+and associated table can get out of sync if, for example, Synapse has been
+downgraded and then upgraded again.
+
+To fix the issue shut down Synapse (including any and all workers) and run the
+SQL command included in the error message. Once done Synapse should start
+successfully.